Shadow chancellor denies Britain's debts are down to the Labour party's spending but admits more should have been done for public services

Ed Balls said he was “really proud” of the last Labour government’s achievements and insisted Britain’s debts were not down to the party’s spending.

The Shadow Chancellor admitted they should have put more cash into some public services, but praised the work done in health and education.

He said: “We didn’t spend every pound of public money well. But I’m really proud of what we did in the NHS. I’m proud of improvement in schools.”

Asked if the party would do the same again, he told the BBC: “There would be some spending things we would do differently, areas we’d spend more.”

But he said Britain’s debts were down to the global financial crisis, not Gordon Brown’s government. He said: “Do I think the level of public spending going into the crisis was a problem? No.”

It came as he defended Labour’s plan to bring back the 50p income tax rate for the rich. Employers’ groups attacked the vow, but he insisted: “It is not an anti-business agenda. It is an anti-business as usual agenda where you’ve got such a big deficit and such a problem with the cost of living and such a need for reform in banking, in energy, in our economy more widely.”

Meanwhile, Labour today risked a further row with big businesses by vowing to make workers more secure in their jobs. Writing for the Mirror, below, Shadow Work Secretary Rachel Reeves made the pledge as she backed an inquiry into pay and conditions.